the glittered nest

Petits Fours, Once again!

Hello everyone...here is my second attempt to these cute little cakes.  I had a fellow blogger give me some advice...use store bought icing and microwave it!!!! Wow...totally worked.   These little cuties are a little difficult to ice.  With more practice I feel they will improve in smoothness. I found if the icing was just a little thick it didn't coat evenly.  You will have to microwave it several times while using it b/c it hardens quick.  Well, here they are:

 

I used a store bought frozen pound cake this time and felt it was much easier to work with.  I cut it up while it was near frozen.  I did find it easier to evenly coat the round shape over the squares.

 

 

I'm proud to say I made the icing flower on the left.  They are really easy to make with royal icing.

If you are wondering why I am going to all this trouble to make them instead of buy them?  IT IS ACTUALLY FUN TO DO!!!!  Try it with your daughters.  I feel ready to show my daughter this baking lesson.  She will probably look back when she is an adult baker and laugh at my feeble attempts!  Building these memories while baking is so worth it.

 I love the round shape and they are much easier to coat.

 

Here's a cute little heart with another flower I made.

Well I'm off to have a private little tea party for myself before the kids get home!!!!!

Birthday Petits Fours

Ok..so I'm trying out some recipes for my 8 year old's paris art party.  Well, we have to have petit fours to snack on so....here's my attempt today.

 

I made the pound cake this time, but it will save time before a party to buy the pound cake and refrigerate so you don't have crumbly cake to work with.

I was a little disappointed with the icing.  It was very thin and didn't give that traditional petit four look.  I got the recipe from familyfun.com.  Next time I will try Martha Stewarts recipe.  

  

 

I strongly suggest...if you have the time, to try out a recipe before you make it for your party.  I would have been disappointed with this go round.  If anyone has a great recipe for petit fours...please share! I might put these in the goodie bags in tiny take out boxes!

How cute are these?  Martha Stewart of course:

 this is from  all recipes

 marthastewart.com

Architectural Find

Look at what I found in Houston!  There are some great antique shops on Westheimer and Montrose near the River Oaks area. 

 

I have this robin's egg blue all throughout my house.  With three young children, I find it calming to have subtle colors in my house.

 

I love my little Anthroplogie bear shakers.  I use them for my coffee everyday.  Cinnamon and chocolate.

 

Just wanted to share a real find...I have another one coming...wonder where I will put it?

Coastal Sisters little faux tea cake!

Doesn't this luck yummy?  But you can't eat it...it is a faux tea cake made by my sweet blogging friend LuLu Kellog.  You must go to Coastal Sisters  website to look at her creations.  LuLu made this little goodie for me and I am sending her a bouquet of crepe paper roses in return!

 

 

She also sent this little paper flower made out of a cupcake liner.  How creative is that!  I also received this beautiful necklace pendant.

Thank you Miss LuLu for my special little gifties!  I will treasure them forever! I have to say since I have started blogging I have met the most incredibly creative people.  It is an amazing thing to be able to connect with people who share your same interests and constantly inspire you.  LuLu you have been an inspiration to me and have touched my life.  I can't wait to see your future creations and good luck at your showing!  Tootles.   

More birthdays on the way

I've been working on invitations and wanted to share:

 

I fell in love with the colors of these reversible tags at Target.  I purchased the little cupcake stickers in the Martha Stewart section at Michaels.  The whole project cost 7.50.  I love it when I came make something I love cheaply! We are having a baking party for Madi:

 

On the same day we are having Abby's art party...later that evening.

 

These are also from Target.  I just printed the invitation on regular printer paper and added a little clip art I had on top.  The cookie below is something I am working on for her party.  I found this cookie cutter at Sur La Table.

  

I did a test run on this one today...I have a new found respect for professional bakers.  Wow...this was hard for me.  Hopefully I'll get the hang of it by the party!

The party favors and decorations are going to be a blast for these parties.  I have found some great items from my new favorite shop: Bake it Pretty

I bought the hats without the girl so the girls could decorate them right when they come in.

More birthday party planning coming!

My little artisit!

  

Abby's spring tissue paper art was chosen to go into an art show in Leander ISD.  She was picked out of all of 2nd grade!  We are so proud!

 

Here's my little artist hard at work!

 

Maybe someday we will see her artwork hanging in a gallery. It will definitely be hanging all over my house.  Here are a couple of my favorites:

 

Whimsical Rose Corsage

Little pretties...bright colors...whimsical bees...added with a party...what more could you want?

These little corages I made with crepe paper were so much fun.  I was so excited to be able to contribute something special for my friend's daughter's graduation party.  I made one for the graduate, the momma and the grandmother.  Here they are.  Pretty soon I will be posting a tutorial on how to make these little pretties.

Here is my sweet friend Jill.  She is wearing the corsage on her wrist.  It can also be worn as a pin!

More sassy flowers:

This corsage has a little birdy peeing out over the flowers!

 Fresh from the Hinojosa bakery! 

Tutorial coming soon!

My little three year old Monkey!

 

My little Brock is three years old today.  Where does the time go?  It seems like it was just yesterday when  he was crawling around fascinated by everything he touched.  Now he is full of energy, jumps off of everything and pushes trains around the house.  When I tucked him in bed tonight I didn't want today to end for some reason.  I don't want to forget his little sweet eyes and his sweet little voice when he says "goodnight momma".  I know this doesn't last forever and I want him to stay my little boy. 

We had a little family party for him today.  His one year old party had a sock monkey theme because my girls called him a little monkey while I was pregnant with him.  I think we will incorporate some sort of monkey into all of his future parties. Here's what I did today.

I made this monkey for him when he was one. He used to drag it around the house so it lost an eye and is pretty roughed up.  I will never repair it b/c it is so precious worn and loved on.

 I had to take a picture of the candle with a bite taken out of it!  Yes, my son thought it looked that yummy, he had to try it.

Good night sweet boy...Happy Birthday.

Little Felt Frog

I am sending my girlfriend a little present in the mail.  I wanted to share it with you.  The idea came from the book Aranzi Aronzo The Cute Book.

 

Ok..so mine doesn't look as great as the one in the book...but it sure was fun to make.  I put a little lotion that I made with clove and vanilla essential oils ,apricot and almond oil in the bag. 

 

How cute would it be to use these little bags as party favors for your little girl's party?  Hmmmm...we have two coming up!

Pretty Hydrangeas

These hydrangeas are from my garden and I wanted to share them with you.

 

There's nothing like clipping your own flowers and bringing them indoors.  My kids love to go outside and see what's blooming.

 

Meg Ryan in "You've got mail" says that daisies are a happy flower.  Hydrangeas are my happy flower. 

I love my little bird's nest on my back table. It's the little things in life isn't it?  A cup of coffee in a fabulous tea cup or some fresh flowers to make you smile.